


Avoiding Emotions 101

by MaskofCognito



Series: Alternative Nano Challenge [27]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Accidental boyfriends, Alternative Nano Challenge, Charlie's POV, Dr. Sexy - Freeform, Embarrassment, M/M, One Shot, Short, TV binging
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:35:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21592381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaskofCognito/pseuds/MaskofCognito
Summary: When Dean vegs for too long, rewatching an entire show of significant length after having just finished it, Charlie is fed up. She schemes a way to find out what is wrong and to get Dean back to his old self. At the end, she finds out exactly why Dean had zonked out so hard.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Series: Alternative Nano Challenge [27]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1534499
Kudos: 23





	Avoiding Emotions 101

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Intervention

Charlie loves Dean, but as his roommate, she cannot stand his recent obsession with Dr. Sexy. It was fine when Dean binged the entire season once, but now, he’s on his second watch through— right after he’d finished it the first time— and he’s already on the last season of twelve. 

The first time, when Charlie caught some episodes, was amusing. But even if she hadn’t watched it the whole time with Dean, she’s already sick of seeing it on the living room TV every time she comes home from her part-time gig at the Roadhouse with Jo. It’s their spring break and Dean took a week off from the Bobby’s garage to give himself ‘an extended break.’

That’s completely fine and okay with Charlie, but she’s fed up with Dean at the moment. It’s Monday evening and Dean didn’t start watching Dr. Sexy— the first time— unil three days ago. Exactly how the hell had he managed to complete a twelve season show in that amount of time? And almost twice? Has he slept?

She slaps his head as she passes behind the couch. Beer bottles and a pizza box litter the coffee table and Dean actually stinks. 

“When was the last time you took a shower, nasty boy?”

“Screw you,” Dean waves her off.

“No!” Charlie rounds the couch and stands in front of the TV. “Have you slept? Taken a shower? Eaten or drank anything besides Pizza and beer?”

Irritated, Dean pauses the show and crosses his arms. But he doesn’t answer.

“This is unhealthy, Dean. Why are you acting like this?”

“I’m just trying to destress from the semester,” Dean mumbles. “Can I please go back to my show?”

Charlie rolls her eyes goes to her room where it’s less rank to play a new game released with Kevin and Sam. She complains about Dean and Sam asks a bunch of questions while they try not to die.

“Has he gone out at all?” Sam asks and headshots a zombie.

“I don’t think he’s gone to more than the kitchen, the half-bath downstairs, and the front door for pizza delivery,” Charlie says, irritatedly ripping through two more zombies and jumping off the second floor building with her parkour skill.

“Is he depressed?” Kevin asks.

“No idea. He hasn’t told me anything. I think he just found this Dr. Sexy show and got unnaturally addicted to it. It’s very disturbing and I wish to never see it on my TV ever again. Yes! Great job, team!” Charlie cheers when the monitor displays that the humans have won this round.

“Hey Charlie, you are super techno savvy, right?” Sam sets them up for the next round and Charlie takes this opportunity to crack her neck and knuckles.

“Yeah. Pretty good, I’d say.” 

“Dude, remember when Professor Chavez freaked out because he was certain there was a bug in the system? All the grades were changed around and the names on submitted assignments had all gotten scrambled? He thought someone hacked the system, but no one could prove it, not even the IT staff.” Kevin says, and Charlie grins and stretches her back.

“Are you seriously saying that was Charlie? Charlie, was that really you?” Sam asks.

“What? I’m afraid I haven’t any clue what you’re talking about.” Her voice is dripping with sarcasm.

It’s then that Kevin and Sam start spurring a plan with Charlie. Parental protections don’t always work on shows when they aren’t rated correctly. And they all want Dean to get out of the house, not find another show to binge. Charlie did a bit of research and then prepared the needed files on a flash drive. She makes her way downstairs to the kitchen. 

“Hey, Dean!” Charlie calls out.

“Yeah?”

“You want some spaghetti? You know, real food for dinner?” Charlie grabs a skillet and opens the fridge, grabbing a cheap beef tube.

“That sounds nice. Yeah, if you’re going to make it, I’ll take some.”

“Lazy ass,”she calls back at him and he waves her off above the couch he’s reclining in, probably grinning to himself.

Charlie makes them both dinner, readys them both bowls, and hands one to Dean. She plops down on the couch, but instead of being closer to Dean like normal, she sits at the other end of the couch. The stench is too much while she’s trying to eat. Dean digs in, staring at the TV, and mutters a ‘thank you.’

Charlie rolls her eyes, but she stays downstairs, on the couch and watching this stupid show with Dean, until he runs to the bathroom. She’s all to away or how long he will take and she jumps up to plug in the usb. She presses a few buttons, her heart rate increasing the longer she takes, and succeeds. She goes back to sitting on the couch, USB in pocket, and types out a message to her gaming buddies. 

**Charlie:** _ Code in place. Awaiting target to arrive. _

Dean exits the bathroom, plops back down, and grabs at the remote.

He tries to press play and an error message appears on the screen. “Damint,” he says and leans in a bit to read what the message says.

_ Insufficenficent connection.  _

_ Verify internet status and retry. _

Dean looks at Charlie and her pulse upticks when he jabs a thumb in the direction of the television. “You know how to fix this, genius?”

Charlie shrugs and opens up her phone again. Her phone is still connected to the internet which is precisely how she’d left it. “No idea. The internet seems to be working fine for me.”

Dean sags into the couch and moans. “Man, I was only three more episodes from finishing.”

“You mean three episodes from finishing a rewatch directly after finding out about this on Friday evening?”

“Potato, Potahto,” he waves her away.

“Go take a shower, troll. Some time away from the TV will do you good. Speaking of, I think Sam mentioned a meetup at the Roadhouse tomorrow. You should come. Get out of the house.”

Dean stands up, switches off the television, and stretches. “We’ll see. I want to see if maybe some sleep will have the TV working again tomorrow.”

Charlie frowns. “You’re just going to waste your entire vacation away turning into compost and wasting in front of the TV? What the frick happened to you?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Dean says. So something did indeed throw him into a depressive state of sorts.

“Okay. Well, I’m telling your brother you’ll be there. So I will drag you out of the house, whether you like it or not, Winchester. Now go take a shower and get to bed.” She slaps his ass and goes into the kitchen to clean up, sending a text to Sam and Kevin to let them know their plan was successful so far.

By the time Charlie got home the next evening— expecting to drag Dean out of the depths of hell— he had cleaned up himself, the kitchen, and the living room. Alexa is playing a classic rock station and Dean is folding laundry.

“Holy shit! Nice to see you alive and well again, Dean.” 

Dean grunts in response. “What time are we supposed to meet Sam?”

Charlie drops her bag on the dining table across from where Dean is working. “At nine for drinks. He said he’s bringing another friend.”

“Kevin?” asks Dean.

“No, Kevin was already invited. I think his name is… Castle or something.”

Dean snorts. “Castle is a TV show. I highly doubt that is a real name in the real world.”

Charlie arches one brow, “I bet you I can find weirder than that.”

Dean, Sam, Kevin, and Charlie give pat-on-the-back hugs and settle into their chairs— forgoing their usual booth for the extra addition. There is a space between Dean and Sam that is empty, and when a man in a trench coat and suit walks up to their table and pulls it out, sitting down, Dean pipes up. “Sorry, man. Seat’s taken.”

“Yes, Dean. The seat was being saved for me.” 

Dean looks up and sputters backward in his chair, making it skid against the wood flooring and catch. It tips and falls back, Dean tumbling down with it. Everyone at the table goes quiet.

This Castle-dude offers his hand to Dean and helps him up before Charlie, Sam, and Kevin erupt in laughter.

Dean’s face reddens a bit a he rights himself, Castle picking up the seat and pushing it in for Dean. “Thanks,” he mutters.

“No problem.” Castle replies.

“Dean, Castiel,” Sam says, his laughter dying off, “do you two know each other? I don’t know why I get that feeling.”

“Yes,” Castiel, apparently (even weirder than Castle), says while Dean voices a, “no.”

Dean clears his throat and Castiel grabs at his hand, intertwining their fingers. Charlie swears Dean’s face reddens worse than it did when he’d embarrased himself just moments earlier.

“I was tutoring in the Math Lab and Dean came in for help with Calculus. I work with an intense woman named Becky who took a liking to Dean. I’m assuming he did it to get her off his back. He kissed me and rather than giving up, she started hounding us about our relationship for her novels. But if Dean or I had told her that we weren’t actually dating and he’d only kissed me to get away from her, she’d go back to courting him. Which, to be honest, is a disturbing sight.” Castiel shakes his head while grinning.

“Okay, but that doesn’t explain this,” Kevin points at their hands, and Charlie and Sam both nod in agreement to the obvious question.

“I asked him if he wanted to go out for real, as I was actually quite interested. That way Becky need never find out otherwise.” Castiel pats his other hand over their clasped fingers. “Dean’s apparently not been in a same-sex relationship before, though he’s had the inclination. So he’s a bit… shy about it, still.”

Charlie stares at Dean’s face and he seems to shrink at the inspection. “Dean Winchester. You know I’m gay, why the fuck did you hide this from  _ me,  _ of all people?”

“I… I don’t know. I just... “

“This is why you were being gross with Dr. Sexy!” She exclaims.

“What?” Castiel asks, a flit of fear crosses his face.

Sam taps Castiel’s shoulder to explain, “Dean’s been binging a show called Dr. Sexy. He’s already watched all twelve seasons twice in less than four days and did not bath or really sleep in all that time.”

Castiel looks back at Dean a bit horrified. “Please, Dean. Do not ignore your hygiene for show watching. That’s a bit much.”

“You’re telling me. He rank,” Charlie complains.

The rest of the night, Dean sinks deeper into his chair while he is getting bullied by his closest friends. Until they began drinking, then Dean starts to come back out of his shell and give just as much as he gets back, finally free from the rut he’d been in less than 24 hours ago.

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't want to write for Nano and commit to 50k when I know that a) I'm not great at long story commitments, and b) my life is a bit busy. However, I didn't want to NOT write this month. So, I decided to commit to a prompt a day for the month of November of whichever fandom I enjoy which gives the prompt the most spark. I'm using [this](https://n7month.tumblr.com/post/188450175349/n7-month-challenge) prompt list I found from tumblr, in case anyone wants to reference it or join in.


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